Results start pouring in as polling culminates in NA-249

Polling for the by-election for National Assembly constituency NA-249- Karachi West-II concluded on Thursday as results have started to pour in.

The polling started at 8 am and continued till 5 pm without any break. Sindh government has announced a public holiday, today (Thursday) in NA-249 Karachi constituency due to a by-election.

Amjad Afridi of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Miftah Ismail of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Qadir Khan Madokhel of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Mustafa Kamal of Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), and Mohammad Mursaleen of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) are among the 30 candidates taking part in the election in the constituency.

The number of registered voters in the constituency is 339,591 out of which 201,656 are male and 137,935 are female voters who will exercise their right of the vote today.

The NA-249 seat had fallen vacant after Faisal Vawda of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) resigned from the National Assembly for his Senate seat.

As per the results of 14 polling stations, PML-N’s Miftah Ismail is leading the polls by securing 1107 votes followed by MQM-P’s Hafiz Mursaleen with 371 votes, PTI candidate Amjad Afridi with 425 votes, banned TLP’s Mufti Nazeer with 156 votes, whereas, PSP chief Mustafa Kamal secures 375 votes and PPP’s Qadir Khan Mandokhel managed to get 229 votes.

According to the first unofficial result from polling station 215, PML-N’s Miftah Ismail secured 68 votes followed by outlawed TLP’s Mufti Nazir who bagged 39 votes.

At polling station Number 90, PTI’s Amjad Afridi secured 73 votes followed by Miftah Ismail’s 29 votes.

The election commission officials on Thursday ordered six MPAs of the PTI to leave NA-249 constituency over violation of the code of conduct during the by-election.

The election officials served notices to PTI members of Sindh Assembly Firdous Shamim Naqvi, Saeed Afridi, Bilal Ghaffar, Raja Azhar, Shahnawaz Jadoon and Shahzad Awan to leave the constituency.

The election commission officials also directed the PML-N MNA Kheal Das Kohistani to quit the constituency.

According to the election code of conduct, a public office holder could not visit a constituency during the election.